Chapter 69: Blood Battle

  The artillery battle was raging along the entire German defensive line, with German soldiers being hit by shell fragments from time to time, while Germany's light and heavy machine guns were continuously firing at the British infantry following behind the tanks. The British tanks, on the other hand, continued to sweep through the German firepower points.

  The entire German army's defense line was in disarray. Although the German infantry were no match for the British 7th Armoured Division in terms of numbers and equipment, their fighting spirit was indeed high. These were all seasoned veterans who had experienced the French campaign. Their will to fight was as strong as iron, having been indoctrinated with the idea of sacrificing for country and nation. They were completely different from those young hot-bloods who were thrown onto the battlefield without even a few days of training in the later stages of World War II.

  The soldiers on the German defense line were stubbornly holding their positions, continuously shooting and killing British infantrymen who exposed themselves from behind tanks. The German soldiers were also constantly being blown down by British tank shells into a pool of blood.

  The German soldiers fell down just like the British soldiers, without any nonsense, unlike in Soviet or American movies, where they would either cry out in pain or make a great effort to pull out a wallet from their body and say to their comrades "This is my party dues for this month, please hand it over to the organization."

  The British 7th Armoured Division faced fierce resistance from the Germans, but human flesh could not withstand steel. With hardly any loss of tanks, the leading British tanks had already reached the German positions. The German defensive line was instantly split into a dozen small segments by the tank charge.

  Some British tanks directly charged into the German fortifications, and the powerful force of the tanks smashed the sandbags in front of the fortifications to pieces. The weight of several tens of tons of the tanks was pressed directly onto the heads of the scattered German soldiers in the trenches. The German soldiers buried under the collapsed soil of the trenches were then crushed by the British tanks, and at that time they were directly crushed to death underground.

  However, this did not cause the German soldiers in other foxholes to flee. They continued to attack the British infantry following behind the tanks with their weapons. Some German soldiers dodged the tank fire and ran to the side of the British tanks, stuffing their hand-held grenades directly into the tracks of the British tanks, which were blown off at that time. Of course, the British infantry was also fearless, risking their lives to block these German suicide squads, and basically all of these German suicide squads really became dead men.

  The German 105 heavy artillery also stopped firing shells at this time. The two armies had already mixed together, and if they continued to fire cannons, they would blow their own people up along with the enemy. The Germans wouldn't do that.

  The British tanks, under the desperate blocking of the German army, could not lead the infantry to cross the German defense line. At this time, many British infantry had already mixed with the German troops. The tank was also unable to fire artillery attacks and could only use coaxial machine guns to aim at the German army. The German army fought together with the British infantry under the threat of the tank's machine gun.

  The battle had been going on for almost an hour, and although the German troops were suffering heavy casualties, their resistance never stopped. The German MG42 machine guns continued to fire bullets from various positions. The German MG42 machine gun was a very light machine gun, weighing only 11 kilograms. A single German soldier could operate it completely, and one person could carry it and run.

  However, the German army generally had two people operating one MG42 machine gun because the rate of fire of the MG42 was too high, reaching 1,200 rounds per minute. This kind of machine gun fired bullets at British soldiers like hail, and the "zip zip" sound of the machine gun tearing through flaxen cloth also left a terrifying impression on the British.

  The German army's mortars were also constantly firing shells, and the power of the 90-caliber mortar was also quite astonishing. The shells landed directly near the British troops who were advancing with the tanks. The tanks were fine, but the infantry was not so lucky. One shell could knock down 2 to 3 British soldiers.

  The German army suffered heavy losses, but the British infantry didn't have it much better. The British infantry had to endure the German machine guns that tore bodies apart while also fighting against the German infantry who were wielding entrenching shovels next to them. The entire German defensive line had turned into a battlefield of hand-to-hand combat between the Germans and the British.

  The British infantry were all envious of the German army's use of trench shovels in close combat, with their round heads not too large and sharp edges, whether held in one hand or two, they felt so comfortable, and when swung around, the power was endless, no matter where they hit the body, it was either fatal or disabling.

  The desperate resistance of the German army was not expected by 'Bryan', according to past experiences in battles involving tanks, as soon as the tanks charged into the infantry's position, the Germans would retreat because they were no match for the steel-made tanks. The infantry had limited options, especially against the Sherman M4 tank with its thick armor and agile turret movement. Many German daredevil soldiers hadn't even reached the back of the tank before the tank's cannon turned around and fired at them. At a distance of over ten meters, the flight time of the tank's shells was almost zero. The German soldiers were instantly blown to pieces.

  But in this way, the German army miraculously withstood the tank attack, and several tanks were destroyed by those agile and incredible guys of the Germans. Their own infantry also mixed with the German infantry. The tanks that had already been able to break through the German defense line could only stop and become a mobile machine gun platform, shooting at the German troops who were still resisting stubbornly.

  "Bryan" became somewhat impatient, grabbed the wireless radio in his hand and called out to the tanks that were stationed at the German defense line. "All tanks quickly pass through the German defense line, do not linger on the German defense line, the task of clearing the remaining German defenders is left to the infantry."

  The German defense line was torn open with a 1-kilometer-long gap. The entire German battalion stationed here was annihilated. British tank commanders, who had received the order, drove their tanks over the German defense line one after another, leaving only infantry to fight against the remaining German troops. It is difficult to say whether this order by "Bryen" was right or wrong. Without infantry cover, the tank units were easily attacked by enemy anti-tank forces. However, Bryen did not have time to clear out these scattered German remnants like weeds. Therefore, it was not entirely wrong to leave these remaining German troops to be cleared up by the following infantry.

  Anyway, the British Seventh Armoured Division also had a lot of armored infantry units. Facing the two German infantry regiments still had a great advantage, and with the tanks having already eliminated most of the German firepower points, and the German connection was also disrupted, they could not organize a good defense at all.

  The two regiments of the German army, with a total strength of 4,000 men, suffered more than 2,900 casualties in just one hour. The entire battlefield was littered with the bodies of German and British soldiers, and the dry desert sand quickly soaked up the blood that flowed from their wounds. The remaining German troops, except for the division's direct artillery regiment, were still stubbornly resisting the British infantry on the battlefield. Nearly 6,000 British infantrymen were pinned down by the German army on their positions.

  The 90th Light Infantry Division was rushed to North Africa from Marseille, France and faced such a brutal fight as soon as they arrived that none of the German officers or soldiers were prepared.

  Of course, if Rommel had not withdrawn most of the troops from this division to support the German 164th Division, the battle here would not have been so difficult.

  Finally, 'Bryan' led the tanks and armored vehicles across the German defensive line, looking back at the British armored infantry units still entangled with the Germans. He gave the order: "Infantry units immediately withdraw from combat, abandon the siege of these remaining German troops. Immediately return to their respective armored vehicles. 5 minutes."

  The British infantry was finally relieved from their misery and didn't even bother to stay in the German position, quickly running towards the armored vehicles parked far away. At this time, the British armored vehicles also didn't care if they were fully loaded with soldiers or not, as long as one vehicle was full, it would set off immediately, accelerating towards the direction of the British tanks.

  The British army at this time also abandoned the bodies of their comrades, and even some wounded soldiers who had lost mobility were left on the battlefield. At this time, the British soldiers really didn't have the face to look again at the pleading eyes of their comrades from usual times. Because armoured vehicles won't stop for you just because you're rescuing a comrade. As soon as five minutes are up, the armoured vehicles will depart. By then it's really all over.

  The German army was also crippled and had no strength to pursue, only using M42 machine guns and 90 mortars to bid farewell from behind. The high-intensity battle and the feeling of escaping death made all these surviving soldiers powerless and sat on the ground.

  Although the German army's fighting will was still very stubborn, after nearly 2 hours of high-intensity combat, the stored ammunition had been basically consumed. As long as the British army persisted a little longer, these German troops would be completely annihilated.

  It took nearly half an hour for these German troops to slowly emerge from their respective shelters, and now the two regiments' fully equipped officers and men were less than a quarter of their original strength. The commanders of both regiments had been killed in action, and after gathering together, the highest commander of these German troops was only one lieutenant colonel regimental commander left.

  The German soldiers did not cry, although they could not withstand the British attack and were torn apart by the British defense line. But they had done their best. Faced with Britain's powerful armored divisions, they had no choice but to retreat, and they fought back with their weapons for 2 hours. This was already a miracle.

  The British 7th Armoured Division also paid a heavy price, with nearly 2,000 infantry and 38 tanks left behind on the German lines. Among them, 23 tanks were destroyed by German anti-tank guns, including one tank that was destroyed when a German soldier stuffed a long-handled grenade into the barrel of the British tank's gun, which slid down the angle of the barrel and exploded inside the tank. The loader, gunner and commander of the tank saw the smoke coming out of the end of the grenade but did not have time to react before it exploded, killing all five crew members including the driver.

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  Two chapters have been delivered.